Glass strand is generally produced by attenuating streams of molten material issuing from a heated bushing or feeder into continuous filaments. The filaments may be cooled by spraying them with water and/or lubricant as they leave the bushing whereupon the filaments are coated with a binder and/or size. The coated filaments are then gathered into a strand at a gathering shoe and then wound upon a winder to form a package as is know in the art.
Previously waste filaments were passed through the forming operation in the same manner as production quality filaments until the strand had passed the gathering shoe. As such, the binder and/or size being applied to the filaments was also wasted.
To circumvent this problem, coating applicator systems were developed wherein the applicator was moved away from the advancing filaments such that the binder or size was not applied to the advancing filaments. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,395 issued to R. A. Faber Apr. 16, 1968.
Due to variations in construction of fiber forming operations, it is important that such movable applicator systems have several degrees of adjustment for proper orientation with respect to the advancing filaments to achieve the desired quality of coating application.